Of course, conventional wisdom also rules against mid-week fight cards, setting up cages on a theater stage and television broadcasters acting as in-house emcees.

Sobral, Strikeforce and Showtime each shunned conventional logic, and “Babalu” outboxed the hard-hitting Lawler en route to a unanimous-decision win.

Lawler appeared a bit flat to open the fight, and Sobral capitalized by racking up early points. Sobral looked a few times to move the fight to the floor, but Lawler capably defended the efforts each time. But in the meantime, Sobral used a steady diet of low kicks, straight punches and shots to the body to slow down his “Ruthless” opponent.

Lawler tried to feign injury a few times to initiate a wild Sobral attack, but the Brazilian calmly picked apart his foe. Sobral avoided Lawler’s heavy hooks and instead scored with his own lengthy limbs.

Lawler opened up in the third frame, but it was too little, too late. Visibly frustrated, Lawler pressed forward with reckless abandon. Sobral was content to play defense, and he remained just out of reach of any homerun blows. He gave away the round in the process, but Sobral still cruised to a unanimous-decision win, 29-28 on all three judges’ cards.

Following the win, Sobral (36-8 MMA, 2-1 SF) declined to challenge Strikeforce light heavyweight champion and friend, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal, and instead opted to request a fight with Dan Henderson. Meanwhile, Lawler (17-6 MMA, 1-2) has earned just one win in his three Striekforce fights, though all three appearances have proved entertaining.

In his first contest at 170 pounds, former middleweight slugger Evangelista Santos did his best to prove there’s more than one relevant “Cyborg” in Strikeforce’s ranks. And while DREAM champ Marius Zaromskis looked both the quicker and more accurate striker in the early going, it was Santos who ultimately delivered the expected fireworks.

After eating a few initial punches from Zaromskis, Santos settled in with counterattacks to the body and legs of his opponents. Zaromskis looked to back away and reset after each Santos exchanges, but the Brazilian attacked patiently, with his hands up, and began to seize momentum.

Santos landed a high kick that seemed to stun Zaromskis, though the Lithuanian continued to fire back. A few punches from Santos followed, and the will of Zaromskis seemed to be broken more than his chin. As he hit the deck, Santos followed to the ground to seal the TKO result at the 2:38 mark of the opening frame.

Following a 2009 split-decision loss to Joey Villasenor, Santos (18-13 MMA, 1-0 SF) earns his first Strikeforce win with the result. Meanwhile, the buzz surrounding Zaromskis (13-5 MMA, 0-2 SF) has taken a significant drop after two-straight Strikeforce losses.

In a middleweight contest that signaled the entrance of another fighter into Strikeforce’s 185-pound title picture, former Army Ranger Tim Kennedy made quick work of grizzled veteran and sometimes light heavyweight Trevor Prangley.

It was the South African who struck first with a beautiful hip toss of Kennedy to the deck. But the former International Fight League star popped immediately back to his feet and changed the course of the fight.

Kennedy began to work the takedown against the cage, and he was relentless in the attack. Prangley defended well briefly, but Kennedy drug his opponent to the floor and quickly passed into mount. Prangley rolled to avoid damage and began to work back to his feet. Kennedy calmly remained on the back with his hooks firmly planted, and he sunk in the rear-naked choke.

Prangley tried briefly to escape, but the tap came quickly and decisively at the 3:35 mark of the opening round.

Kennedy (12-2 MMA, 3-0 SF) has now won four-straight fights overall and should be a major part of any Strikeforce 185-poud title scenario talks – regardless of what eventually happens with current champion and free agent Jake Shields. Prangley (22-6-1 MMA, 3-2-1 SF) should still enjoy a role as a gatekeeper for the organization, but he is now winless in his past two Strikeforce outings.

The night’s main card kicked-off with a rousing 160-pound affair between K.J. Noons and Conor Heun. Fighting toe-to-toe for three full rounds, both Noons and Heun has the crowd rocking during spirited exchanges.

The fight opened with Heun looking to work the action to the floor. Noons successfully remained on his feet for a bit, but “Hurricane” took the fight to the ground with two minutes left an launched a grappling assault. Heun rotated between mount and Noons’ his back, but “King Karl” was able to defend and eventually escape as time expired.

Both fighters looked winded as they returned to their feet, and the contest took a decided shift in momentum in the second round.

Heun was more willing to stand and trade in the second round, and he paid the price. While he offered capable striking, Noons was just a touch quicker and more accurate. Noons worked the body frequently, though Heun’s face also showed the damage from his opponent’s attacks. Heun offered resistance, but he appeared to let the second slip away.

In the final frame, Noons and Heun each had their moments. While Heun was again firing with his hands and knees, Noons’ blows did the more visible damage, and his effortless defense of his opponents’ takedowns looked enough to claim the fight. Heun staked a claim with his tireless pursuit, but in the end, two of the three judges saw it differently.

Noons was awarded a hard-fought split-decision win with scores of 27-30, 29-28 and 29-28.

With a win in his Strikeforce debut, Noons (9-2 MMA, 1-0 SF) now has five-straight victories overall. Meanwhile, Heun (8-4 MMA, 0-2 SF) is now winless in two Strikeforce fights, though both were highlight-filled affairs.

In the night’s featured preliminary bout, a 160-pound catchweight affair, Los Angeles radio show host R.J. Clifford showed capable submission defense for the better part of a round and a half. Unfortunately for Clifford, it left him little opportunity to flash an offense.

Instead, Jeremy Umphries worked early and often to the back in both the first and second rounds. Working both on the ground and from a standing position, Umphries controlled the action throughout. In the second, Umphries again secured the back, this time on the ground, and Clifford was forced to try and secure his opponent’s arms and fend off a rear-naked choke.

He couldn’t.

Clifford refused to tap, and Umphries introduced his opponent to unconsciousness at the 2:27 mark of the second frame.

Umphries (5-1 MMA, 1-0 SF) rebounds from a January loss with the fourth submission win of his career. Clifford (3-2 MMA, 0-1 SF) falls to 1-2 in his past three outings.

The fight opened with opponent Marcus Kowal working the fight to the floor and dominating the positioning early. Sandoval eventually tries for a few triangle-choke attempts, but that only resulted in a one-point deduction following an illegal upkick. After the restart, Kowal again worked the fight to the floor and took Sandoval’s back. He couldn’t finish before final bell, but it was a 10-8 round after the penalty.

As the second round opened, Sandoval let his hands fly. Kowal blocked an early combination, but a Sandoval right uppercut scored on the button, and his opponent dropped to the canvas. Sandoval pounced with a few powerful ground-and-pound punches as Kowal turtled, and the bout was halted 43 seconds into the second frame.

The win was the first career stoppage victory for Sandoval (2-2 MMA, 1-0 SF) while the the loss was Kowal’s first.

UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey is probably the greatest female fighter on the planet, which is a tremendous feat. So why are we seemingly so obsessed with arguing about whether she could beat up men?